viernes, 4 de agosto de 2017

Shy holiday Britons 'point at menus' to avoid foreign words

BBC News article -

The Populus survey found 37% of British holidaymakers always tried to speak a few words in the local language but 29% said they were too scared to try.
It also found that 36% felt guilty at asking locals to speak English, while:
  • 56% resorted to pointing at menus
  • 45% relied on the assumption that all locals would speak English
  • 42% spoke English more slowly and loudly
  • 15% even tried speaking English in a foreign accent 
Previous research by the British Council, the UK's international culture and education organisation, has found that the UK has a shortage of people able to speak the 10 most important world languages, which is likely to hamper the country's future prosperity and global standing.

To read the full article click here.

miércoles, 19 de julio de 2017

What languages can I do at JFS?

Chinese Mandarin
普通

Every Monday after school in room 52, all students welcome. Option to get a GCSE after a few year’s work. Teachers from the Nihao Mandarin language club, special price for JFS students.


Portuguese and Italian
Português and Italiano

Every Monday after school in rooms 54 and 53a for students with already some knowledge to native level speakers of the language. EDEXCEL GCSE and A level option. Very low price, co-financed by the Portuguese and Italian embassies.


Spanish, French and German
Español, Français and Deutsch

Mother tongue students (of the above or any other language if the family can support them in their studies and there is a GCSE available in EDEXCEL exam panels. If Edexcel does not have your language, we can consider other panels) need to speak with Mr. Ordóñez about their GCSE options.


Polish
Polszczyzna

Students are referred to their local Polish school. Please ask Mr. Ordóñez for more details.


Latin
Lingua latina


For year 9 and 10 groups only. There will be a free course in Latin at Trinity School, 4-5pm on Thursdays, commencing on Thursday 21st of September. 

viernes, 28 de abril de 2017

High achievers - reading and viewing extension

Si estás pensando en hacer A level Spanish, quizá te apetezca leer o ver algunos de los materiales del curriculum.

Textos;
'Como agua para chocolate' - Laura Esquivel
'Crónica de una muerte anunciada' - García Márquez
'El coronel no tiene quien le escriba' - García Márquez
'Relato de un náufrago' - García Márquez
'Un día de éstos' - García Márquez (a short story from the collection; Los funerales de la
Mamá Grande)
'Bodas de Sangre' - García Lorca
'Yerma' - García Lorca
'La casa de Bernarda Alba' - García Lorca
'Las bicicletas son para el verano' - Fernán Gómez
'Réquiem para un campesino español' - Sender
'La casa de los espíritus' - Isabel Allende
'El príncipe destronado' - Miguel Delibes
'La Regenta' - Leopoldo Alas (Clarín)
'El sí de las niñas' - Moratín
'Historia de una escalera' - Buero Vallejo
'El alcalde de Zalamea' - Calderón
'La sombra del viento' - Ruiz Zafón
'El oro de los sueños' - José María Merino
'Lazarillo de Tormes' - anon
'El túnel' - Ernesto Sábato
'La familia de Pascual Duarte' - Camilo José Cela
'El Camino' - Miguel Delibes

Películas;
'El laberinto del Fauno' - Guillermo del Toro (2006)
'El espinazo del diablo' - Guillermo del Toro (2001)
'Volver' - Almodóvar (2006)
'Todo sobre mi madre' - Almodóvar (2009)
'Hable con ella' - Almodóvar (2002)
'Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios' - Almodóvar (2008)
'Diarios de Motocicleta' - Salles (2004)
'El Che' - Aníbal di Salvo (1997)
'De prisa de prisa' - Saura (1981)
'Carmen' - Saura (1984)
'Historia oficial' - Puenzo (1985)
'Nosotros los pobres' - Rodríguez (1948)
'Los otros' - Amenábar (2001)
'Mar adentro' - Amenábar (2004)
'Celda 211' - Monzón (2009)
'Los ojos de Julia' - Morales (2010)
'Un franco catorce pesetas' - Iglesias (2006)
'Los fantasmas de Goya' - Forman (2006)
'El método' - Piñeyro (2005)
'Las trece rosas' - Martínez (2007)
'El secreto de sus ojos' - Campanella (2009)
'El orfanato' - Bayona (2007)
'El lápiz del carpintero' - Reixa (2002)
'Sin nombre' - Fukunaga (2009)
'María llena eres de gracia' - Marston (2004)
'La lengua de las mariposas' - Cuerda (1999)
'Flores de otro mundo' Iciar Ballaín (1999)
'Te doy mis ojos' - Iciar Ballaín (2003)
'El espíritu de la colmena' - Victor Erice (1973)
'Muerte de un ciclista' - Juan Antonio Bardem (1955)
'Tres metros sobre el cielo' - Fernando González Molina (2010)
'Yo también' - Antonio Naharro (2009)
'Amores perros' - Alejandro González (2000)
'Bajarse al Moro' - Fernando Coloma (1992)
'Biutiful' - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2010)

martes, 25 de abril de 2017

New GCSE - foundation speaking assessment

What should my exam look like if I want to get a 5?
  • Little hesitation
  • Fairly accurate
  • Fairly good accent
  • minimum of 3 tenses (past, present and future)
  • extended opinions, some of them complex
  • all questions fully answered
  • variety of vocabulary, including connectives and adverbs

New GCSE - foundation writing assessment

What should my exam look like if I want to get a 5 in the writing section?
  • Fairly accurate
  • minimum of 2 tenses (past, present and future)
  • extended opinions, some of them complex
  • all bullet points fully answered
  • variety of vocabulary, including connectives and adverbs
  • 40-50 words (10+ words per bullet point)

jueves, 9 de marzo de 2017

Memrise


https://www.memrise.com/courses/english/spanish-spain/?q=gcse





I have researched some ideas to improve our vocabulary knowledge and I would like you to try Memrise. It has hundreds of specific Spanish GCSE vocab revision courses. Please try it out and tell me if you like it!

11B ORD link
11C ORD link
11C EVA link

lunes, 27 de febrero de 2017

Quizlet - Vocabulary test

I have researched some ideas to improve our vocabulary knowledge and I would like you to try Quizlet. I have selected some specific GCSE revision courses. Please join your class and try it out!
Link to year 11B Spanish
Link to year 11C Spanish

miércoles, 8 de febrero de 2017

miércoles, 1 de febrero de 2017

Conditional Tense - Spanishdict.com


The conditional (el condicional ) tense in Spanish is used to express what would happen in the future. It is more of a possibility, or hypothetical situation, than the future tense. The formation is very similar to that of the simple future tense in that one set of endings is added to the infinitive to create a new tense and the irregular stems are the same as those in the future tense.
Compraría esa camisa.
I would buy that shirt.
 
Sacaría la basura por ti.
He would take out the trash for you.
 
Si fuera rico, me gustaría viajar por todo el mundo.
If I were rich, I would travel all over the world.
 

Regular Conditional Forms

To form the conditional tense, simply add the correct ending to the infinitive of the verb. All verb conjugations (-AR-ER, and -ER) have the same endings for the conditional tense:

Conditional Endings: -ía-ías-ía-íamos-íais-ían

Subjectviajarconocerescribir
yo
viajaría
 
conocería
 
escribiría
 
viajarías
 
conocerías
 
escribirías
 
usted, él, ella
viajaría
 
conocería
 
escribiría
 
nosotros
viajaríamos
 
conoceríamos
 
escribiríamos
 
vosotros
viajaríais
 
conoceríais
 
escribiríais
 
ustedes, ellos, ellas
viajarían
 
conocerían
 
escribirían
 
The endings for the conditional tense are the same as those for the -er and -ir forms of the imperfect tense.
Remember that the conditional adds the endings to the infinitive while the imperfect adds them to the stem.
  • ConditionalEscribiría unas cartas. (I would write some letters.)
  • ImperfectEscribía unas cartas. (I wrote some letters.)

Take a quiz in Spanishdict.com

Future in Spanish - Spanishdict.com

In Spanish, there are two ways to express the future. One is the simple future tense, and the other, more basic form, is the informal future. The informal future is used mostly in spoken Spanish to express future actions.
Simple FutureFuture
Estudiaré mucho mañana.
 
Voy a estudiar mucho mañana.
 
I will study a lot tomorrow.I am going to study a lot tomorrow.

Future Forms

The informal future is formed by the verb ir conjugated in the present indicative, the preposition a, and the infinitive of the action to be performed. The loose translation would be that someone is going to ___.
ir + a + infinitive
Yo voy a viajar por España.
I am going to travel through Spain.
Take a test in Spanishdict.com

miércoles, 25 de enero de 2017

Preterite vs. Imperfect in Spanish

Overview - From Spanishdict.com - QUIZ


Many students have trouble knowing when to use the preterite tense or the imperfect tense since they both refer to actions in the past. There are several general rules to follow, as well as phrases to look out for. Many phrases use only one tense or the other, so memorizing them is very helpful in figuring out whether the use a verb in preterite or imperfect!

General Preterite Uses

Generally, the preterite is used for completed actions (actions that have definite beginning and end points.) These can be actions that can be viewed as single events, actions that were part of a chain of events, actions that were repeated a very specific number of times, or actions that specifically state the beginning and end of an action.

General Imperfect Uses

The imperfect tense is generally used for actions in the past that do not have a definite end. These can be actions that are not yet completed or refer to a time in general in the past. It can also be used to talk about:
  • actions that were repeated habitually
  • actions that set the stage for another past tense event
  • time and dates in the past
  • for telling a person’s age in the past
  • to describe people (characteristics) in the past
  • to communicate mental or physical states in the past